Rudeness

woosh0

Thankyou all for your replies. It was so refreshing to hear your experiences either as staff or customers. I had several little chuckles especially about the rubber fetish. You have certainly cheered me up. Although you say make something up I don't think a pensioner would be believed if I quote that about the rubber suit.

pb3

Hasty1991 wrote: »

Just answer the question, why on earth wouldn't you?

Perhaps the OP is fed up with living in this increasingly jobsworth filled nanny state ?

While I would not have refused to answer the question, I certainly would not have answered it truthfully. Indeed I take great delight in deliberately supplying false information except in situations where I'm legally obliged to be truthful:p

Is this a new thing? The last time I withdrew a large sum (bank cheque) to purchase a car, other than supplying id and having the transaction approved by a manager I didn't have any major drama.

JuicyJesus

pb3 wrote: »

Is this a new thing? The last time I withdrew a large sum (bank cheque) to purchase a car, other than supplying id and having the transaction approved by a manager I didn't have any major drama.

Drafts are traceable to a certain extent, and where the money is going to is known as the payee is given to the bank. Cash is untraceable.

This is not to say drafts aren't a money laundering risk. But the risk is lower.

Pandini

woosh0 wrote: »

Thankyou all for your replies. It was so refreshing to hear your experiences either as staff or customers. I had several little chuckles especially about the rubber fetish. You have certainly cheered me up. Although you say make something up I don't think a pensioner would be believed if I quote that about the rubber suit.

Ignore the people saying it's the law that they ask you. It's not. Otherwise, no-one would be able to do internet banking.

As you suspected, it's a mix of trying to sell you, and a misunderstanding by the individual staff member of money laundering regulations.

Next time ask them "What if I transferred the money using Internet banking?"

JuicyJesus

Pandini wrote: »

Ignore the people saying it's the law that they ask you. It's not. Otherwise, no-one would be able to do internet banking.

Comments like this demonstrate a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of money laundering, and also that you are talking out of your backside.

Money laundering is the process of obscuring the provenance or destination of funds in order to make the proceeds of criminal activities (which can be anything from tax evasion to running a drug cartel) appear like clean money which is unconnected to its source. Doing this via Internet banking, where transactions are only ever electronic ones between accounts, is very hard indeed if not functionally impossible. There is a clear trace on where money came from and where it is going to. In cash, this trace simply does not exist. The reason you don't get asked where the money is going to on Internet banking is because there is no point - they already know.

Banks and other financial service businesses (which also includes things like bureaux de change and money transfer outlets) are required to "know their customer" and have a knowledge of what is normal activity on their customers' accounts. What they look for is out of character transactions - which, in the context of this thread, would be a large and sudden cash withdrawal or deposit without a reasonable explanation.

Bear in mind that banks and their employees can become subject to regulatory or statutory sanction (read: massive fines) should they exercise anything less than tight anti-money laundering controls across their entire business. While you may think it's an infringement on your privacy to ask what you're doing with a sudden large withdrawal, it should be remembered that you are in a business relationship with them, they are entitled to ask (know your customer and all that) and if they don't like your answer then they may well take the view that they don't want to continue that relationship. As with most things financial, honesty is the best policy.

All of this information is publicly available via Wikipedia and the likes. It really isn't rocket science.

ses6jwg

if you are unneccesarily defensive the cashier will probably report you anyway, and someone in head office will be poking their beady nose into your accounts

Pandini

JuicyJesus wrote: »

Comments like this demonstrate a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of money laundering, and also that you are talking out of your backside.

Money laundering is the process of obscuring the provenance or destination of funds in order to make the proceeds of criminal activities (which can be anything from tax evasion to running a drug cartel) appear like clean money which is unconnected to its source. Doing this via Internet banking, where transactions are only ever electronic ones between accounts, is very hard indeed if not functionally impossible. There is a clear trace on where money came from and where it is going to. In cash, this trace simply does not exist. The reason you don't get asked where the money is going to on Internet banking is because there is no point - they already know.

Banks and other financial service businesses (which also includes things like bureaux de change and money transfer outlets) are required to "know their customer" and have a knowledge of what is normal activity on their customers' accounts. What they look for is out of character transactions - which, in the context of this thread, would be a large and sudden cash withdrawal or deposit without a reasonable explanation.

Bear in mind that banks and their employees can become subject to regulatory or statutory sanction (read: massive fines) should they exercise anything less than tight anti-money laundering controls across their entire business. While you may think it's an infringement on your privacy to ask what you're doing with a sudden large withdrawal, it should be remembered that you are in a business relationship with them, they are entitled to ask (know your customer and all that) and if they don't like your answer then they may well take the view that they don't want to continue that relationship. As with most things financial, honesty is the best policy.

All of this information is publicly available via Wikipedia and the likes. It really isn't rocket science.

It's a shame - with all your knowledge - that you didn't bother to read the OP.

He was trying to transfer funds from one of his accounts at the bank, to another of his accounts, at the same bank.

As you say "[laundering] where transactions are only ever electronic ones between accounts, is very hard indeed if not functionally impossible." - and that is exactly what the OP wanted the teller to do.

So maybe it's not me who's talking out of my backside ...

JuicyJesus

Pandini wrote: »

It's a shame - with all your knowledge - that you didn't bother to read the OP.

He was trying to transfer funds from one of his accounts at the bank, to another of his accounts, at the same bank.

As you say "[laundering] where transactions are only ever electronic ones between accounts, is very hard indeed if not functionally impossible." - and that is exactly what the OP wanted the teller to do.

So maybe it's not me who's talking out of my backside ...

I will hold my hands up and say you're right on that point. My apologies.

However, I will say I don't consider it rude to ask the reason for such a transaction, and indeed there may well be reasons for it. I don't know those reasons, since I don't work for Halifax, but they may well have their reasons.

Pandini

JuicyJesus wrote: »

I will hold my hands up and say you're right on that point. My apologies.

Well, fair play to you. 99.99% of forum posters would have argued even more!

jonesMUFCforever

Some banks have procedures that require them to complete a checklist for large withdrawls including transfers from one account to another - one of the most important checks is ID!
If an employer gives you instructions to do certain transactions a certain way then in my opinion that is the way they should be done for the protection of customer and staff.